I'm gonna be doing mine soon and I want it to be as easy as possible getting them out. What has worked for you guys to make it easier?

Tips and tricks appreciated.


What about changing the axle end Ujoints?

 

Anybody know where to get a good tool for this?

Axle ujoint press????

 

A real big vise or regular shop press will work for the u-joints.

 

I just did my axle u-joints and ball joints a month or so ago. Renting/buying a ball joint press is necessary for the ball joints and some people like to use it for the u joints as well. A vise and bench helps alot too. As far as getting the u joints and ball joints out, I started soaking everything w/ PB Blaster a week before (including the hub assembly which can be a nightmare for some people).
I prefer the hammer and socket method to get the u joints out. If you use the ball joint press you can sometimes bend the ears that hold the u joint. Happened to me before and then you have to grind the ear down to get the snap ring to seat all the way.

Oh, and while you're at it, I would recommend adding some grease to the hub via the ABS sensor hole. Best/easiest way that I've found is to keep squirting grease in there while someone else rotates the hub.

And don't forget to anti-sieze the hub before reinstalling it.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

That helped alot. Thanks. I'm gonna start looking for a ball joint press. Just not sure where to start.

 

I picked up a cheap-0 U joint/ball joint press from Harbor Freight a couple weeks ago while they were on sale.

I haven't used it yet so I don't know how they will hold up, but the price was right.

Renting one at an auto parts store might be the cheapest way to go.

 

Yup, someone else said they got one on sale at harbor freight too. I'll check there tomorrow.

 

If you weren't a couple three thousand miles away, I'd let you use mine...

I'm kind of curious to see if it will work OK.

 

The guy who told me about them said it worked great. We'll see. Time to get some of those super expensive ball joints and see.

 

I've done both sides, upper and lower b-joints and both u-joints in the last few weeks(one side a weekend).

Not short on tools or knowledge, but I seperated both bearings($331 ea.), broke passenger side outer axle yoke($90) and snapped a $900 Reed vise in half.

I have the OTC puller(bent and broke the welds on it...I rewelded and straightened before side #2)

Next time will be a breeze, with liberal use of antisieze.

Ball joints are tight, I put on a good deal of pressure then cracked them with a 5#...they popped. I've broken a harbor freight press(cast) on a ford truck a few years ago, so I just borrow the one from Autozone(forged).

My vise and the yoke both broke at the same moment...4' pipe on vise..not good... I like the socket method better with a 5# mash hammer, force in instant beats slow force for breaking rusted pressed in caps.

This was on a 06' heated garaged truck with 60K in the salt belt of NE Ohio. I had been PB Blasting both sides for at least a month every morning before pulling out....yeah, that helped.

So let's see, $501 for ball joints and u-joints, $700 bearings, $90 yoke, $85 puller, $900 vise, 12 hours of time....guess I owe my wife a $2500 tennis bracelet huh.

 

Wow.

I didn't think doing mine would be that big of a deal, when the time comes, but that sounds like it was a real pain.

 

Makes you wanna start on 'em tomorrow doesn't it?
Not really looking forward to that project!

 

That's weird you had such issues. My bro tackled it last summer with a truck that had 150k miles and it was a pain but a cheap press worked fine and nothing broke. You having such issues worries me! My 04 is nearing 70k miles and I don't think ball joints are to far off.

 

I'll admit I was very surprised. It's actually a very straightforward easy job if some moron would have spent the nickel to antisieze the bearing.

My father retired as an engineer from Timken, and I still do quite a bit of work for a few of the VP's and in particular the one who headed up the unipac(hub/bearing) project. I reamed him pretty hard and all he did was laugh. He said those bearings in the past would sell for about $2 each ($8 for entire front end) but now that they have the hub, antilock line and the lugs, that they are about $150 ea.....which not only makes money for Timken, but also quite a bit for Mopar. They all thanked me for keeping thier pensions viable.

Could they get me some freebies...nope, not anymore, even for Big T employees.

I'm not sure of the OEM supplier, mine were not Timken, my replacements from Mopar were SKF...so much for the pension comment boys, hamburger helper for you!

I wouldn't touch this job on my truck without the puller, 3/4" sockets at the minimum and the patience of JOB. I treid everything, pounding on the 4 hub bolts from the back, socket extensions against the frame and the power steering doing some pushing, chisels between hub/knuckle, impact wrench, tapping(beating) on hub under pressure.....still seperated bearing first.

Maybe if you run fireroads all day or well roads they may be looser, but if you haul highway, or surface in any snowbelt area....gooooood luck.

I'd like to try one from Texas, or the SW to see if environment makes that much difference.

Oh yeah....Autozone wants $417 for the hub/bearing from Timken, Rockauto is $234 or so(Timken), and $331 for OEM(SKF) ....dealer was also $331 for SKF. Either way the Timken is not made here, so don't get all excited for "American"

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what a dealership would typically charge for ball joints?


Also, I figured a set of 3/4 or 1" drive sockets needs to be on my shopping list, but what kind of puller are you referring to?